Annie’s Publishing, LLC

Premiere Business

Congratulations to Annie's for being selected at Member of the Month for November!

The Berne Chamber of Commerce is pleased to award Annie’s with Member of the Month for November. “Annie’s” was adopted earlier this year as the new name for the craft and nostalgia media division of DRG, headquartered in Berne.Annie’s has about 100 employees working in its Berne offices at 306 E. Parr Road (next-door to Berne Ready Mix), a refurbished three-story brick building that was built over 100 years ago as home of the Berne Milk Condensery. For many years, Swissland Dairy Products has also used a portion of the building for its operations.
The 1985 acquisition of House of White Birches, a craft and nostalgia magazine publisher founded in 1947, launched the DRG media division. In the ensuing years, the division grew with new products and acquisitions. The move united under the Annie’s name the family of products that have been offered by DRG for many years under a collection of well-known brands, including Annie’s Attic, House of White Birches, The Needlecraft Shop, Clotilde and American School of Needlework.Annie’s products (Annies-Publishing.com) embrace varied craft interests, including crochet, knitting, quilting, sewing, needlework, beading, card making and paper crafts. The company serves these interests with magazines and membership clubs, as well as print and digital products, including online classes, featured in its catalogs and on more than 40 eCommerce websites. Annie’s craft magazines include Quilter’s World, Creative Knitting, Crochet World, Crochet! and CardMaker. Craft membership clubs include Creative Girls, Young Woodworkers, Creative Woman, Simply Beads, Creative Quilters, CardMaker, Annie’s Hook & Needle, Creative Painter, Annie’s Attic Mysteries and Creative Woman Mysteries. Annie’s publishes two nostalgia magazines, Good Old Days and Looking Back, as well as the Live It Again book series, and The Good Old Days Store catalog and website. The two newest additions to the Annie’s family are Candice Jensen Productions, creators of the PBS show Knit and Crochet Now! and Country Sampler, Illinois-based publisher of Country Sampler and Smart Retailer, acquired in August and October, respectively.
DRG is part of the third-generation Muselman family business. It began in 1925 with the founding of Economy Printing Concern in Berne. EP Graphics, as it is known today, is still owned by the Muselman family. Operating in downtown Berne, its services range from high-quality, four-color web printing for catalogs and magazines, to on-demand digital printing. Another DRG division, Strategic Fulfillment Group, provides state-of-the-art fulfillment and database marketing services out of a 140,000-square-foot facility in East Texas.

Left to Right: Tony Mellencamp of East of Chicago, Michele Fortune Annie’s Executive VP, David McKee CEO of Annie’s and Sheree Barkley Executive Director Berne Chamber

News Release on June 4, 2012

Annie’s is born

Family of craft and nostalgia products consolidated under new name

BERNE, Ind.—Annie’s is the new name for the craft and nostalgia media division of DRG.
The move unites under the Annie’s name the family of products that have been offered by DRG for many years under a collection of well-known brands, including Annie’s Attic, House of White Birches, The Needlecraft Shop, Clotilde and American School of Needlework.
DRG is part of the third-generation Muselman family business headquartered here. It began in 1925 with the founding of Economy Printing Concern. EP Graphics, as it is known today, is still owned by the Muselman family.
Another DRG division, Strategic Fulfillment Group, provides state-of-the-art fulfillment and database marketing services out of a 140,000-square-foot facility in East Texas.
The 1985 acquisition of House of White Birches, a craft and nostalgia magazine publisher founded in 1947, launched the DRG media division. In the ensuing years, the division grew with new products and acquisitions, including craft companies The Needlecraft Shop in 1994, Annie’s Attic in 1996, and Clotilde and American School of Needlework in 2002.
Annie’s craft products (Annies-Publishing.com) embrace varied creative interests, including crochet, knitting, quilting, sewing, needlework, beading, card making and paper crafts. The company serves these interests with magazines, original and selected outside products featured in its catalogs and websites, and membership clubs.
“Consolidating our craft and nostalgia products under the name ‘Annie’s,’ taken from our strongest brand, sends an important message to our customers about the common promise of quality and originality behind our many products,” said David McKee, CEO for Annie’s and DRG.
“Our products are united, too, under a common theme: Celebrating home, family and the creative spirit,” McKee said.
“We began the search for a single name by asking our customers how they best know us,” Annie’s Executive Vice President Michele Fortune said. “Annie’s Attic was the answer. We shortened this to Annie’s, an abbreviated form already in common use among our customers and staff.”

DRG (DRGnetwork.com) is part of the third-generation Muselman family business headquartered in Berne, Ind., near Fort Wayne. It is comprised of two divisions: Annie's and Strategic Fulfillment Group (SFG).
Annie's (Annies-Publishing.com) is well known to crafters and nostalgia buffs for its print and digital magazines, pattern books and other related products, sold primarily via mail, websites and catalogs.
SFG (StrategicFulfillment.com) provides state-of-the-art fulfillment and database marketing services out of a 140,000-square-foot facility in East Texas.
The Muselman business began in 1925 with the founding of Economy Printing Concern in Berne. EP Graphics, as it is known today, is still owned by the Muselman family. It specializes in high-quality, four-color web printing for catalogs and magazines.